


Brother of the Prophet

by DonnieTheFu



Category: Original Work
Genre: 1519, 1540, 1600, America, Aztecs, Conquest, Fiction, Gen, History, Incas, Latin, Mayas, Mexico, OF, South, indians - Freeform, to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 11:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16555217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DonnieTheFu/pseuds/DonnieTheFu
Summary: B'alam Agab is born into the perilous life of 15th century Guatemala, on the Mayan island city of, Tah Itzá, The Place of the Itzá. He is the brother of the last and greatest Mayan prophet, Chilam B'alam, who tries to warn his people against the coming of the Spaniards. Resentful of his influence over the people and infuriated after he publicly rebukes them for their evil and corrupt ways, the high priests devise a plot to have Chilam B'alam killed. After the betrayal and murder of his brother at the hands of the high priests, B'alam Agab is unwillingly swept down a dark and dangerous path through pain, despair, heresy, and forbidden love. In time when his brother's prophecies are proven true with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, and the outside world begins to crash down around them, leaving Tah Itzá as the last unconquered Mayan stronghold, will B'alam Agab be able to forgive those responsible for his brother's death, take up his brother's mantle, and find a way to save and protect his people against the foreigners?





	1. Preface

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [El Hermano del Profeta](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16555364) by [DonnieTheFu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DonnieTheFu/pseuds/DonnieTheFu). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> B'alam Agab is born into the perilous life of 15th century Guatemala, on the Mayan island city of, Tah Itzá, The Place of the Itzá. He is the brother of the last and greatest Mayan prophet, Chilam B'alam, who tries to warn his people against the coming of the Spaniards. Resentful of his influence over the people and infuriated after he publicly rebukes them for their evil and corrupt ways, the high priests devise a plot to have Chilam B'alam killed. After the betrayal and murder of his brother at the hands of the high priests, B'alam Agab is unwillingly swept down a dark and dangerous path through pain, despair, heresy, and forbidden love. In time when his brother's prophecies are proven true with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, and the outside world begins to crash down around them, leaving Tah Itzá as the last unconquered Mayan stronghold, will B'alam Agab be able to forgive those responsible for his brother's death, take up his brother's mantle, and find a way to save and protect his people against the foreigners?

© 2017 DonnieThe Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.

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I'm the kind of writer who writes out of order, or "out of sequence". When I start writing, I usually have a pretty good idea of what the story is going to be about and a general outline. Then, I let my imagination take me where it will, and I write whatever parts of the story happen to come into my mind. Later, I begin to piece the story together by going back and filling in the gaps between all the parts I have written.

What follows are all the parts I have written so far for my book, Brother of the Prophet, and I am currently working on filling in all the gaps.

The basic story line premise is this: B'alam Agab is born into the perilous life of 15th century Guatemala, on the Mayan island city of, Tah Itzá, The Place of the Itzá. He is the brother of the last and greatest Mayan prophet, Chilam B'alam, who tries to warn his people against the coming of the Spaniards. Resentful of his influence over the people, and infuriated after he publicly rebukes them for their evil and corrupt ways, the high priests devise a plot to have Chilam B'alam killed. After the betrayal and murder of his brother at the hands of the high priests, B'alam Agab is unwillingly swept down a dark and dangerous path through pain, despair, heresy, and forbidden love. In time, when his brother's prophecies are proven true with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, and the outside world begins to crash down around them, leaving Tah Itzá as the last unconquered Mayan stronghold, will B'alam Agab be able to forgive those responsible for his brother's death, take up his brother's mantle, and find a way to save and protect his people against the foreigners?

To cut down on confusion, at the beginning of each part I have tried to provide a little background information to explain what exactly is going on at that particular point in the story.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoy it :)

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© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.


	2. Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> B'alam Agab is born into the perilous life of 15th century Guatemala, on the Mayan island city of, Tah Itzá, The Place of the Itzá. He is the brother of the last and greatest Mayan prophet, Chilam B'alam, who tries to warn his people against the coming of the Spaniards. Resentful of his influence over the people and infuriated after he publicly rebukes them for their evil and corrupt ways, the high priests devise a plot to have Chilam B'alam killed. After the betrayal and murder of his brother at the hands of the high priests, B'alam Agab is unwillingly swept down a dark and dangerous path through pain, despair, heresy, and forbidden love. In time when his brother's prophecies are proven true with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, and the outside world begins to crash down around them, leaving Tah Itzá as the last unconquered Mayan stronghold, will B'alam Agab be able to forgive those responsible for his brother's death, take up his brother's mantle, and find a way to save and protect his people against the foreigners?

© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.

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Yich'ak B'alam (Jaguar Paw) sat at the table, eating his chiles and corn tortillas in silence as the shadows from the fire played across his face and the sweat trickled down. He took a bite and sighed heavily. His wife, Akna (Our Mother), rocked their seven-year-old son, B'ak B'alam (Jaguar Skull), to sleep in her arms in front of the fire. He was a bit too big for that now, maybe, his long, lanky limbs brushing the dirt floor of the hut. But he was their only son, their most precious treasure, very much loved and adored, and coddled, especially by his mother. Being sure he was asleep, she stood up and carried him in her arms into the other room and laid him on his bed. B'ak B'alam gave a small groan and turned over onto his side, but he did not wake. Yich'ak B'alam came and stood a little ways behind her, in the doorway of the hut. She turned to look at him and met his gaze. Then he turned his back to her and went out of the hut. She followed.

There on the right side of the hut, overlooking his fields, Yich'ak B'alam had built a small shrine with an altar for the Mayan goddesses of childbirth and fertility, complete with clay idols of their likenesses: Akhustal, Ixazalvoh, Xqiq, and in the center of them, larger than all the others, the moon goddess, the Lady Ixchel, "Our Mother", as she was known among her people, who even now, at this very moment, smiled down from above, casting her light upon them. She had borne thirteen sons, and was a helper to all those who were pregnant or wished to become so. The site of her largest and most important shrine was on the far away island of Cozumel, but due to their poverty and extreme distance from the shrine, Akna had never been able to make her pilgrimage there. And so, this humble shrine of their own making would have to do. Yich'ak B'alam took the knife at his waist and drew the obsidian blade across the flesh of his palm. Then Akna took the knife from him that she might do the same. They closed their hands into fists, letting the blood drip down slowly into the goddesses' mouths until the dark, crusted stains ran anew with bright, fresh blood, feeding and nourishing them that they might have the strength to perform this, their long prayed for miracle.

And there in the middle of his cornfield, Yich'ak B'alam placed his mantle and Akna lay upon it and beneath her the newly prepared soil awaiting his seed. His calloused hands brushed roughly against the skin of her thighs as he lifted her skirt and came into her. Akna turned her head and squeezed her eyes tight shut, grimacing from the hurt of it. A gasp of pain escaped her lips. She couldn't remember when this act between them had ceased to be love-making, if it could ever have been called that. Perhaps after the death of the first child, when each time it had become increasingly more and more like a grinding down; corn kernels caught between the pressure of the mano and the metate, rubbed and scraped countless times against the rough stone surface until they were unrecognizable as what they once had been. Both things performed out of necessity – one must eat and one must have children. And now it was relegated entirely to business with an end result in mind. A goal to be obtained. So let's hurry up and get this over with, because this hurts way too much, and we've got better things to do with our time – like crying ourselves to sleep in an empty bed, and drinking and smoking ourselves into oblivion in the next room, with only the memories of all the things we've lost as company.

She opened her eyes and looked upon the goddesses, twisted now by the shadows of the night into something grotesque and frightening, things with sharp teeth and fangs that clawed their way up from the deepest, darkest pits of Xibalba (Mayan Underworld) and worked their way into your nightmares. The dark blood gleamed slick and wet in the moonlight, dribbling down their mouths and chins, between their naked breasts, to cool in ever thickening pools upon the bark paper at their feet. This paper would later be fed into the flickering flames in the bowls of copal incense that surrounded the altar that it might ascend in clouds of smoke to the goddesses in the heavens above. Because blood was precious, and not one drop, especially that of a sacrifice, was to be wasted. A breeze sprang up, rustling the trees and a few dry leaves caught against the legs of the altar. She shivered, despite the warmth of the night, and turned her face away to look up her husband. He stared down at her – so serious, his brow furrowed in concentration and the sweat pouring off of him. Torchlight along with the sounds of chanting voices and music came to them from somewhere far away in the distance, a feast no doubt for The Lady, this being the month of Zip, the time of her celebration. And a drum beat, urging him on, because that cigarette and drink of balché were waiting. His thrusts grew ever harder, faster with anger, determination, and the beating of the drum, outracing a sense of guilt that threatened to consume him with every remembered failure, every remembered loss, every remembered death; until the expression on his face and the sounds coming from him were caught somewhere between the snarlings of an enraged dog, teeth bared, and sobs of desperation on the edge of a breakdown, and Akna saw her own pain reflected in his eyes. She reached up and placed her hand on the back of his neck. It is alright, she said with her eyes, her touch, the way one would comfort a hurting child. We are almost there. You are so close. Just a little while longer and it will all be over. It will be done and the pain of this thing we are subjecting ourselves to will stop. But he brushed her arm away, and taking her face in his hand, turned it to face the goddesses, that she might look upon them once more here at the last. One final plea. His breath was coming fast now, chest heaving in exertion, the blood pulsing in his ears. And then, despite everything, pleasure began to overtake them as the drumbeat reached its crescendo, and sounds of gratification came from them both, "Ay! Ay! Ay!"

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© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.


	3. Birth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> B'alam Agab is born into the perilous life of 15th century Guatemala, on the Mayan island city of, Tah Itzá, The Place of the Itzá. He is the brother of the last and greatest Mayan prophet, Chilam B'alam, who tries to warn his people against the coming of the Spaniards. Resentful of his influence over the people and infuriated after he publicly rebukes them for their evil and corrupt ways, the high priests devise a plot to have Chilam B'alam killed. After the betrayal and murder of his brother at the hands of the high priests, B'alam Agab is unwillingly swept down a dark and dangerous path through pain, despair, heresy, and forbidden love. In time when his brother's prophecies are proven true with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, and the outside world begins to crash down around them, leaving Tah Itzá as the last unconquered Mayan stronghold, will B'alam Agab be able to forgive those responsible for his brother's death, take up his brother's mantle, and find a way to save and protect his people against the foreigners?

© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.

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"Aaayyy!" The cry that had begun months ago in a moment of pleasure, reverberated across the expanse of time, ending now in these ceaseless hours of terrible pain. It was the cry now of a woman in labor, that cut like a knife through the hot, stagnant afternoon air, frightening black birds into flight. Akna sat up in the low bed, clenching the tangled, sweat-soaked sheets in her fists. Another scream, primal, animal, burst from her chest as she fought, struggling to bring forth her child. But it was in vain. She fell back, the last of her strength spent, the salty, iron taste of blood from the rawness of her throat lingering on her tongue. Life was slipping away. "My son...My son...," she moaned weakly, reaching out her hand, searching desperately through the mist. The other women sought to comfort her, and wiped the sweat from her face with a cool, damp cloth.

"She is calling for her son. Quick! Bring the boy here," the old midwife commanded the other women.

Yich'ak B'alam sat outside on the trunk of a fallen tree, attempting to smoke. The fingers of his bandaged hand trembled so badly that he very nearly dropped the cigarette and only just barely succeeded in bringing it to his lips to take a drag. He had neither slept nor eaten for the three days that his wife had been in labor. He was running on adrenaline, a little water, and a great many cigarettes. How he longed to give into his vice, balché, allow it to drown him, pulling him beneath its waves, down into the dark depths of the abyss. It would lessen the pain, if only a little and for only a short time, of the remembrance of the bones of all their other children, the nameless innocents, born too soon, set apart for death the moment they emerged from the womb, buried now beneath the floor of the hut in little clay jars. Oh, the bones. So many bones... He remembered the birth of every single one of his little ones distinctly, though they had all been exactly the same. First there had always been the long, hard labor. Then, finally, the child was brought forth. Blue and tiny with not even the strength to cry - only to gasp for breath. He remembered how he had willed the child to breathe. Willed the breath in his own lungs to enter those of his child. He remembered after the birth, when he and Akna had been left utterly alone with the dying child. How they had awaited death. Longed for death, to end the pain and suffering of the child. Akna held the infant in her arms, close to her breast, willing it with all her being to nurse. She kissed and stroked the face of her child, wet from her tears. She rocked gently and crooned lullabies to ease the suffering, to ease the dying. And Yick'ak B'alam leaned against the doorway of his hut and looked out at the people going about their lives as if nothing were wrong, and he wondered how the earth itself does not shatter for the death of a child. Death had never come quickly. The unspeakable agony usually stretched on for three cruel days. Until, finally, with one last sigh, mercifully the little heart fluttered to a stop...Without realizing it, Yich'ak B'alam had allowed the cigarette to burn down to his fingers. Surprised by the sudden burning pain, he dropped the cigarette and stood up swearing. When he looked up his eyes fell upon the idols of the goddesses and upon the little shrine he had made for them. They stared at him smugly with their half-lidded eyes, their mouths twisted into ugly, smirking grins dripping with the blood from his hand. And he was filled with rage. He stormed over to the idols.

"You bitches! You whores!" he raged. "Did I not do enough for you? Did I not give you enough? Did I not build this altar just for you? Did I not lay the best of my table always before you? I fed you with my own blood! Was that not enough for you? And now it pleases you not only to take a sixth son from me, but now also my wife as well?" He destroyed the altar and flung the goddesses to the ground from on high, crushing them underfoot. He stood there chest heaving and then turned to see that his son, B'ak B'alam, who had been playing quietly on another log nearby, had stopped playing and was now staring at him. But Yich'ak B'alam said nothing to him. He turned away from his son and went and sat back down on the log where he had been sitting before. B'ak B'alam continued to stare at his father. After a few moments, Yich'ak B'alam called his son to him. "My son," he called, without turning to look at him. "Come here." B'ak B'alam walked slowly over to his father and stood beside him. Yich'ak B'alam sat the little boy on his right knee. He patted the little boy's knee and turned his face away, fighting for composure. After a long while, he turned back to the little boy, with tears in his eyes. "There is a thing I must tell you, my son, but it is hard," he said.

"What is it, Tat (Daddy/Papa)? What is wrong?" B'ak B'alam asked.

"It is about Na' (Mommy/Mama) and the baby."

"Yes?"

"Yes. A very bad thing has happened. They have become very sick," Yich'ak B'alam explained. "The midwife and the other women have tried very hard to make them better, my son, but they cannot. They are are too sick. And because they are too sick and cannot get better, my son, they are, in fact, going to die." Then overcome with grief, Yich'ak B'alam hugged his son tightly to himself, and wept openly on his son's neck. "Oh, my son!" he wept. But B'ak B'alam smiled and stroked his father's hair.

"Do not cry, Tat! They will not die!" he said, cheerfully. Yich'ak B'alam looked up at his son, his face stained with tears.

"What do you mean, my son?" he asked, puzzled.

"They will not die! The Voice told me that they will both live," B'ak B'alam answered.

"The Voice told you this, my son?" Yich'ak B'alam asked him. But at that moment, one of the women rushed out of the hut. She came over to the boy and took him by the hand.

"She is calling for the boy," she said to Yich'ak B'alam. Without waiting for him to answer, she pulled the boy into the hut behind her.

"My son! My son!" Akna continued to cry out. The woman quickly brought the boy to her.

"Do not be afraid! Look! Here is your son!" The midwife said to her.

"My son. My son." Akna smiled. She reached out her hand and touched him on the arm and then took him by the hand. The moment she touched his hand a powerful urge to push overcame her. She cried out, pushing hard, and the baby moved down for the first time in the three days that she had been in labor. Thinking the baby was coming at long last, the women quickly rushed the boy out of the hut. But the moment Akna let go of her son's hand, she became worse than before.

"Quick! Bring the boy back!" the midwife told the women. So the woman ran outside again and took the boy by the hand and brought him back inside. This time, Yich'ak B'alam, startled, stood up and looked to see what was happening. The woman brought the boy to Akna again and she took him by the hand. Once more she cried out, pushing hard a second time and then fell back, gasping for breath.

"She is exhausted," the women said as they attended to her, and continued wiping her face. But then, determined, Akna sat up again. She screamed, giving one final push with all of her remaining strength and the baby came out. But the cord was wrapped tightly around the neck. The skin was tinged a dusky blue and the child neither moved nor breathed. "The child is dead. That is why the birth was so difficult," the women said, "She worked hard to bring forth this child and had such hope that this one would survive. If she were to see the little body the way it is now, before she has had a chance to recover, it would break her heart and she will most certainly die!" And so they hid it from her...

"Where is my baby?" Akna began to ask.

"Do not worry. Everything will be alright. One of the other women are attending to him in the other room. Rest now, and you may see him later," the midwife told her.

"I cannot hear his cry." Akna became frantic, tears already springing to her eyes because she knew. She knew. "Where is my child? Where is my baby?" And they all looked at her with pained expressions.

"Akna...," one young woman started, "The baby is..."

"He is in heaven, child," the old midwife broke in, "where the light from the face of Itzamná shines like the sun and his wife, the goddess Ix Chel, suckles him at her breast as she sits in the shade of the ceiba tree, which is on the banks of the great river," she finished.

"NO! NO! NOOO!" Akna cried, heartbroken. The other women rushed to console her, weeping with her. "Where is he? Bring him to me! I want to see him! I want to hold him!" She sobbed. 

But everyone had forgotten about the young boy in the room - a witness to it all. Now, as his mother wept, he approached the place where they had lain the body. A lump had formed where his throat met his chest, making every breath difficult and painful. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he wondered how could this be? Then he heard the still, small voice.

"Why are you crying, my little one? My son, did I not say unto you that they shall both surely live? It is true, the other little ones I have gathered unto myself. But this little one I have determined to be a brother and a helper unto you. Therefore, fear not, my child, for I am with you always. Now, stretch forth your hand and see that you do all that I command you. For through you I shall show them my wonders!"

Amidst their anguish, suddenly the women heard the cry of the infant. They gasped and rushed to the place where the little body had been lain. Full color had returned to the child and he cried with the full power of his lungs, waving tiny arms and legs in the air. Another gasp came from the women and they quickly unwound the cord, now in loose coils easily removed from the neck. Unable to speak, they took the baby and laid him in Akna's arms.

And if the women turned back, their wondering gazes lingering long over the little boy standing self-consciously against the wall of the hut, their attention was soon distracted when Yich'ak B'alam burst into the outer room of the hut, panting.

"What has happened? They are dead?" he asked.

"No! They live!" One of the women informed him. "Come. You have a son!"

"I have a son? I have a son?" he repeated, his heart pounding with cautious excitement. "But is he...is he well?"

"Yes, a son, and he is well, praise be to the gods. Come," the woman beckoned to him, smiling.

"I come, sister," Yich'ak B'alam said to her then. "But first I must give thanks to the gods, for this son given me." And then he unsheathed the obsidian knife at his waist, and cut a deep gash into the flesh of his forearm. He held out his arm as a flood of crimson droplets, rained down, gleaming in the sunlight like jewels, splotching bark paper below. With his other hand, Yich'ak B'alam drank deeply from a cup of balché, and then pulque, unconcealed tears of joy slipping down his face. When the bleeding had stopped he tossed the bloodied bark paper into the fire, and sat on a stool while the woman bandaged his arm. Then she held back the blanket that separated the main room of the hut from the sleeping quarters where Akna and the baby rested. Yich'ak B'alam staggered a bit, light-headed from the blood loss and alcohol, as he entered the room.

"Fool!" Akna scolded him, teasingly. "Come and sit down before you fall. You have cut yourself too deeply and drank too much," she told him. "You have given thanks to the gods, as is proper, my husband. Now, come here and meet your son." Yich'ak B'alam delirious with unbridled happiness, chest swelling with pride, came and sat beside his wife on the bed and took his son into his arms. He gently unwrapped the blanket in which his son was now swaddled, and examined him carefully, noting every minute detail, and counting ten small fingers and ten small toes.

"He is so tiny."

"But he is strong," Akna said as the boy wailed, leaving no doubt as to the health of his lungs.

"Yes," Yich'ak B'alam agreed.

"He resembles you very much, my husband," Akna added with a smile.

"Truly?" Yick'ak B'alam asked, eyes sparkling, delighting in this miracle that was his second son – a son that looked like him. Then he looked around for his other son, his firstborn, whom he found standing in the shadows at the far end of the hut. "Come here, my son, and meet your brother," he said to him. But B'ak B'alam pressed his back against the wall and shook his head, frightened by the power of his own hand. "Come, do not be frightened. You will not hurt him," Yich'ak B'alam said to him favorably, motioning him to come. But B'ak B'alam stayed where he was.

"Well, perhaps later, then," Akna smiled at him encouragingly. The little boy did not reply.

The midwife ordered the other women to prepare a steam bath for Akna and also that a bowl of soup be brought to her that she might eat. Then she came near and held out her arms for the child, that she might complete the rest of her duties. Yich'ak B'alam stroked his son's head and placed a kiss on his forehead as tears of pure happiness began to flow once more. Then he gave the child over to her.

"Tell all of our friends and neighbors that I am giving a party to honor the birth of my son!" he announced loudly, and perhaps a bit drunkenly now, to the room at large.

"No parties!" the midwife scolded. "Not until this little one and his mother are fully recovered, and he is old enough to withstand the dangers of the evil-eye. In six months - then you may have your party," she said.

"Tell all of our friends and neighbors that in six months-" Yich'ak B'alam, began, raising his finger dramatically into the air, "Then I shall have my party." All of the women laughed. Then with the child held safely and securely in her arms, the midwife began the sacred ritual, the same ritual that was performed for all Mayan children, even those who were born dying. The ritual began with a speech,

"My beloved boy, my beloved youth, my youngest one, nobleman, thou hast suffered exhaustion, thou has become fatigued. Thy beloved father, the master, the lord of the near, of the nigh, the creator of men, the maker of men, hath sent thee. Perhaps thou wilt live for a while! Art thou our reward? Art thou our merit? Verily, thou wilt endure, thou wilt suffer torment, fatigue, for verily our lord hath ordered, hath disposed that there will be pain, there will be affliction, there will be misery, there will be work, labor for daily sustenance. But-" She smiled down at him lovingly, "there is also to be eating, drinking, the wearing of raiment. May the lord of the near, of the nigh who is thy mother, thy father, thy revered parent, cherish thee, array thee..." And then, because he was a boy, she said to him, "Your trade and skill is war; your role is to give the sun the blood of your enemies to drink and feed the earth with the bodies of your enemies."

Then she took the baby over to a basin of water. She breathed upon the water three times, and then began to bathe him. And as she bathed him, she spoke to him, saying:

"Enter, descend into the blue water, the yellow water. Here is the coolness, the tenderness of thy mother Ix Chel; Ix Chel who is eternally awake. May she go with thee, may she receive thee, may she embrace thee, may she take thee on her lap, in her arms, that thou mayest continue watchfully on earth. May she cleanse thy heart; may she make it fine, good. May she give thee fine, good conduct!" 

The child cried, his body shaking. Once the bath was finished, she swaddled him in the blanket once more and returned him to his mother's arms. Akna covered him in the folds of her shawl where he would remain hidden from view, safe from the envious looks of barren women and the evil-eye, until his presentation.

Meanwhile, in the other room, Yich'ak B'alam dug a small hole near the hearth, careful not to disturb the resting place of his other little ones. He took his son's umbilical cord, which had been wrapped in leaves, and buried it there beneath the floor of the hut, rooting him, tying him to this piece of land, to his people, so that in the future when someone asked his son where he was from (literally Where is your umbilical cord buried?) he might say with pride, "Tah Itza, the Place of the Itza." What a blessing bestowed upon them by the gods to be burying this, and only this, instead of the body of another one of their beloved children. Maybe it was a foolish thought brought on by the balché and pulque he had drunk earlier, but Yich'ak B'alam thought he could also feel a vibration, a humming in the earth – joy radiating out from the other children that had gone on before, that their brother lived and would not be joining them there below. The interring of his umbilical cord here amongst them would forever bind them to him, and he to them, and perhaps in some form they would live on through him and have a small taste of the life of which they had been robbed.

And thus began the life of B'alam Agab (Jaguar of the Night), brother of the prophet.

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© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.


	4. Bearded Men From The East

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> B'alam Agab is born into the perilous life of 15th century Guatemala, on the Mayan island city of, Tah Itzá, The Place of the Itzá. He is the brother of the last and greatest Mayan prophet, Chilam B'alam, who tries to warn his people against the coming of the Spaniards. Resentful of his influence over the people and infuriated after he publicly rebukes them for their evil and corrupt ways, the high priests devise a plot to have Chilam B'alam killed. After the betrayal and murder of his brother at the hands of the high priests, B'alam Agab is unwillingly swept down a dark and dangerous path through pain, despair, heresy, and forbidden love. In time when his brother's prophecies are proven true with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, and the outside world begins to crash down around them, leaving Tah Itzá as the last unconquered Mayan stronghold, will B'alam Agab be able to forgive those responsible for his brother's death, take up his brother's mantle, and find a way to save and protect his people against the foreigners?

© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.

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It began this way. One day, while Akna was still pregnant with the previous child that had later died, she confided in her husband regarding an upsetting incident that had occurred earlier in the day. Coming into the hut, she had heard a voice, as if their son were speaking to someone in the sleeping area of their home. She went to investigate, and found her son lying prostrate upon the ground. Immediately she ran to his side and turned him over. She took him by the shoulders and shook him gently, calling his name, but he was unresponsive, appearing to be in some sort of a trance with his eyes rolled back in his head. Cradling his head in her lap, she wept in fear for her only son, as words of a strange prophecy spilled from his lips. He spoke of bearded men that would come from the east and introduce a new religion. It had been truly terrifying she said. Finally, it seemed he began to wake up slowly. She held him to her chest then, weeping with relief, and he told her of a spirit in the form of a dove, perched on the ridgepole of the house, which had spoken to him while he lay unconscious below. Then he had asked her, "But, Na', why are you weeping if the Holy Spirit of the Lord has spoken to me?"

Yich'ak B'alam did not know what to make of this, and during dinner confusing and frightening thoughts swirled in his mind like an obscuring fog, as he watched his son picking listlessly at his food, head rested against his hand.

"Sit up straight and eat your food, my son," he said. B'ak B'alam complied with a sigh. Could his son be sick? Yich'ak B'alam knew of a man whose son was given to fits. Had B'ak B'alam now developed the same or a similar illness? He searched for other signs of sickness in his son, but found none. Perhaps, B'ak B'alam was just pulling a prank to frighten his mother, though that did not seem like him at all. He had always been so well-behaved - obedient and respectful to both of his parents. Or it could be that he was only playing at make-believe, imitating something he had seen or heard from his friends? Akna was alarmed and convinced that a spirit had possessed their son and throw him into a trance.

"Our little B'ak B'alam, possessed by a spirit? Come now," he had said to her with a laugh. But was it possible that his son truly had received a prophecy from the gods? Yich'ak B'alam was not yet ready to accept such supernatural explanations, and what they would mean for his son and his family if they were true. After all, no halo of light emanated from his body. He was not standing on a stool rebuking his parents in righteous indignation. He seemed to be just a normal little boy not wanting to eat his dinner. Therefore, Yich'ak B'alam determined to speak to his son, in hopes of ascertaining the truth of what had really occurred.

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© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.


	5. Many Strange And Wondrous Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> B'alam Agab is born into the perilous life of 15th century Guatemala, on the Mayan island city of, Tah Itzá, The Place of the Itzá. He is the brother of the last and greatest Mayan prophet, Chilam B'alam, who tries to warn his people against the coming of the Spaniards. Resentful of his influence over the people and infuriated after he publicly rebukes them for their evil and corrupt ways, the high priests devise a plot to have Chilam B'alam killed. After the betrayal and murder of his brother at the hands of the high priests, B'alam Agab is unwillingly swept down a dark and dangerous path through pain, despair, heresy, and forbidden love. In time when his brother's prophecies are proven true with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, and the outside world begins to crash down around them, leaving Tah Itzá as the last unconquered Mayan stronghold, will B'alam Agab be able to forgive those responsible for his brother's death, take up his brother's mantle, and find a way to save and protect his people against the foreigners?

© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.

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After dinner, Yich'ak B'alam sat outside on a fallen log smoking a cigarette. And B'ak B'alam, who usually ran about with his friends, as free as the wild things in the forest, and played until he was winded and his mother forced him to come in, was this night contented to sit beside his father, subdued.

"What troubles you, my son? Are you not feeling well?" Yich'ak B'alam asked him.

"No, I am alright, Tat," B'ak B'alam answered him.

"You hardly ate your dinner," Yich'ak B'alam commented. Indeed, B'ak B'alam had not eaten a single piece of venison at table. B'ak B'alam shrugged his shoulders and threw a rock into the dirt.

"I just did not feel like eating. That is all."

"And you do not feel like playing either? That hardly seems like you."

"Not today." Yich'ak B'alam nodded and drew on his cigarette.

"Well, that is the way things are sometimes," he said, eyeing his son, but B'ak B'alam said nothing. "Na' told me what happened today." It was then that B'ak B'alam crumbled. He screwed up his face and clung tightly to his father, sobbing heavily into his chest.

"I am sorry," he cried. "I did not mean to frighten Na' and make her cry. Please do not be angry with me." Ah! Yich'ak B'alam thought to himself. A confession!

"Peace, child. I am not angry," he comforted his son.

"You swear it?"

"I swear it. Come now, tell me what happened." And so, B'ak B'alam sat on his father's knee, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, and recounted to him the events of the day. He had been walking by the entrance to the hut when he heard a voice call out to him.

"My son." He stepped into the hut.

"Na'?" he called, but his mother was nowhere to be seen. Then he heard the sound of furiously beating wings, as if a bird were trapped in the hut. He entered the sleeping area of the hut and there on the ridgepole of the hut was a white dove. Suddenly he felt bone-achingly tired. He stood there swaying on his feet, eyes half closed.

"If you are weary, my son, lie down and I will give you rest," the voice spoke to him again. B'ak B'alam could not but obey. He lay down at once and it seemed he feel into a deep sleep and the voice was speaking to him as if in a dream. It told him of many strange and wondrous things.

"What sorts of things?" Yich'ak B'alam asked him...

*Author's Note: I haven't exactly decided what he is going to say to his dad right here, but I do know that his dad is going to say,"That is heresy", and forbids him to have anything else to do with "The Voice", and tells him to never speak of it again. He is very worried about what would happen to his son and his family if the priests were to find out that his son was speaking out against them and their religion.* 

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© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.


	6. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> B'alam Agab is born into the perilous life of 15th century Guatemala, on the Mayan island city of, Tah Itzá, The Place of the Itzá. He is the brother of the last and greatest Mayan prophet, Chilam B'alam, who tries to warn his people against the coming of the Spaniards. Resentful of his influence over the people and infuriated after he publicly rebukes them for their evil and corrupt ways, the high priests devise a plot to have Chilam B'alam killed. After the betrayal and murder of his brother at the hands of the high priests, B'alam Agab is unwillingly swept down a dark and dangerous path through pain, despair, heresy, and forbidden love. In time when his brother's prophecies are proven true with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, and the outside world begins to crash down around them, leaving Tah Itzá as the last unconquered Mayan stronghold, will B'alam Agab be able to forgive those responsible for his brother's death, take up his brother's mantle, and find a way to save and protect his people against the foreigners?

© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.

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And then it was that very strange things indeed began to occur in regards to their son. Shortly after the talk with his father, B'ak B'alam began to refuse to eat meat. Eggs, fish, turkey, venison, wild pig – he would eat none of them.

"I am telling you I will not eat it!" B'ak B'alam exclaimed emphatically, pushing his food away.

"But, why, my son? Why will you not eat it?" Yich'ak B'alam asked him.

"Because it is an animal."

"So it is. And what?"

"It does not deserve to die and be eaten."

"Look at me, my son. Listen to me, your father speaks," Yich'ak B'alam said to his son with compassion in his voice. "Truly I say to you, it is a terrible thing to have to take the life one of the gods' animals, but sometimes, out of necessity, we must do this thing, so that we may eat and live. Is it not so, my son?"

"No! No! You are wrong!" B'am B'alam cried, wiping tears from his eyes. "People did not used to eat the animals - not before, not in the beginning. But then the people turned bad, and that is when they began to eat the animals." Yich'ak shook his head in bewilderment.

"Look here, my son. Were you not eating meat just yesterday?"

"Yes."

"So what is so different about today, then, that you cannot now eat meat, eh?"

"I do not know! I just cannot!" B'ak B'alam was becoming more upset by the minute.

"If we are not to eat meat, my son, then what are we to eat, eh?"

"Our crops, fruit from the trees, and berries."

"We do eat these things, my son, but it is not enough to sustain us, these things alone."

"It is! It is!" B'ak B'alam insisted. And then Yich'ak B'alam grew angry.

"Look here, son," Yich'ak B'alam said again, this time threatening his son with his finger, "You remember, I forbade you to have anything else to do with The Voice. Have you disobeyed me in this?"

"No, Tat! I have not!"

"If The Voice did not tell you these things, my son, then who did?"

"Nobody!" B'ak B'alam said, lips trembling.

"If nobody told you these things, my son, then how is that you came to know of them?"

"I do not know! Nobody tells me of these things. They just come into my mind." B'ak B'alam cowered in front of his father, crying with his head in his hands, on the verge of hysteria. Akna gasped in shock and fear at her son's inexplicable behavior.

"Enough!" Yich'ak B'alam commanded his son sternly, which only caused B'ak B'alam to cry even harder. "That is enough, my son. Can you not see that you are frightening your mother? Now, sit up straight and eat your food."

"No! No! No!" B'ak B'alam shouted, completely distraught.

"Look here, son. You have a choice," Yich'ak B'alam said to him, "-either you eat or you go to sleep hungry. Now which will it be?" B'ak B'alam continued to cry without answering his father.

"Answer me! Which will it be, hmmm? Will you eat?" Yich'ak B'alam asked him again.

"I cannot," B'ak B'alam answered him in little more than a whisper, tears running down his face.

"Then you will go to sleep hungry," Yich'ak B'alam told him with a finality in his voice.

"Please, Tat, I am sorry," B'ak B'alam begged his father, but Yich'ak B'alam would not hear it.

"Go! Now!" he shouted at the little boy. And so B'ak B'alam obeyed his father and went away to his bed sobbing. Yich'ak B'alam sat there fuming.

"My husband..." Akna ventured to say to him.

"What is it?" he turned on her angrily, and so she said no more to him that night.

After that night every meal became a battle of the wills, and despite the pleadings of his mother and the beatings at first threatened and then delivered by his father, still B'ak B'alam refused to eat meat. And each time his father sent him away hungry.

"We shall see which one of us tires first!" Yich'ak B'alam said to him, after the third beating. The first beating had been with his open hand, the second one with the sole of one of his sandals, and the third with a leather deer-skin strap.

But later that night, when her husband had passed out after drinking his balché and pulque and was snoring in bed, Akna awakened her son and brought him into the main room of the hut. Without a word, she placed before him a plate heaped with tortillas, beans, and chiles - but no meat. And so she fed him and saw that he ate and when he had finished eating, she made sure that he made it back safely to his bed and was covered with his blanket.

The fourth night brought with it yet another beating. This time Yich'ak B'alam used a small branch from one of the trees outside, and left his son's bottom cut, bleeding, and covered in welts and bruises. After he had sent the little boy away to bed, he sat there drinking heavily as he always did. And finally Akna could take no more and decided to speak to her husband.

"My husband, it has been four days now," she began, and though he ignored her she knew that he heard her. "We have suffered the pain of losing five children already. Are we now to lose our first-born, the only child we have left to us, as well?" Yich'ak B'alam continued his drinking without looking at her. "If his sentiments do not allow him to eat meat, then so be it. But I am more worried about you. What have you become? Why have you grown so angry, my husband? Can you not see what you are doing?" But from Yich'ak B'alam there came no reply. Akna turned away from him and stifled shaking sobs as tears spilled from her eyes.

In the other room, as B'ak B'alam lay in his bed curled up on his side, crying, he once again heard The Voice, this time like a rush of cool wind ruffling his hair.

"My son, I have seen the anger of your father. But do not hold hatred against him in your heart, for he is only frightened of the things he cannot understand. And be not afraid, for I will be with your father, and also with you."

*Author's Note: I'm still working on this chapter...more to come soon! :) * 

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© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.


	7. Notes On Research

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> B'alam Agab is born into the perilous life of 15th century Guatemala, on the Mayan island city of, Tah Itzá, The Place of the Itzá. He is the brother of the last and greatest Mayan prophet, Chilam B'alam, who tries to warn his people against the coming of the Spaniards. Resentful of his influence over the people and infuriated after he publicly rebukes them for their evil and corrupt ways, the high priests devise a plot to have Chilam B'alam killed. After the betrayal and murder of his brother at the hands of the high priests, B'alam Agab is unwillingly swept down a dark and dangerous path through pain, despair, heresy, and forbidden love. In time when his brother's prophecies are proven true with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, and the outside world begins to crash down around them, leaving Tah Itzá as the last unconquered Mayan stronghold, will B'alam Agab be able to forgive those responsible for his brother's death, take up his brother's mantle, and find a way to save and protect his people against the foreigners?

© 2017 Donnie The Fu ™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner of this publication.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this publication via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.

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I would like to share some of the intriguing research that is helping me to write my book. I invite my readers to draw their own conclusions.

Sources

Allow me introduce to you to some of my sources, the first of which is Father Bernardo de Lizana.

Father Bernardo de Lizana, also referred to as Father Francisco Javierde Lizana y Beaumont, was the earliest known historian of Yucatan. One of the most devout catholic priests of his time, he did missionary work among the Itza-Maya Indians of Yucatan during the first century of the Spanish Conquest. In 1633, he wrote Historia y Conquista Espírtual de Yucatán (History and Spiritual Conquest of Yucatan), which has been extremely helpful to me in my research.

The officials in Yucatan received bureaucratic orders from the Council of the Indies, by command of the Spanish Crown, requiring reports on general and particular aspects of life in the colonies. These reports yielded a large amount of information on native Spanish colonial life and history, and on physical and cultural elements of the landscape, thereby supplying information on which policy for governing the colonies might be based. One such report is a book titled Documentos Ineditados – Relaciones de Yucatán (Unedited Documents – Histories of Yucatán), which has also aided me greatly in my studies, specifically what was contributed by Juan de la Cueva Santillan. He lived in the city of Merida in Yucatan, in which he was an encomendero. Below I will explain a little bit about what the term encomendero means.

The following quote was taken from Wikipedia article "Encomienda":

"Encomienda (Spanish pronunciation: [eŋkoˈmjenda]) was a labor system in Spain and the Spanish Empire. It rewarded conquerors with the labor of particular groups of subject people. It was first established in Spain during the Roman period, but used also following the Christian reconquest of Muslim territory. It was applied on a much larger scale during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Philippines. Conquered peoples were considered vassals of the Spanish monarch. The Crown awarded an encomienda as a grant to a particular individual. In the conquest era of the sixteenth century, the grants were considered to be a monopoly on the labor of particular groups of Indians, held in perpetuity by the grant holder, called the encomendero, and his descendants. In the encomienda, the Spanish Crown granted a person a specified number of natives from a specific community. Indigenous leaders were charged with mobilizing the assessed tribute and labor. In turn, encomenderos were to ensure the native people were given instruction in the Christian faith and Spanish language, and protect them from warring tribes or pirates; they had to suppress rebellion against Spaniards, and maintain infrastructure. In return, the natives would provide tributes in the form of metals, maize, wheat, pork, or other agricultural products."

Author and researcher, Clifton R. Edwards noted than many of the questions in Documentos Ineditados – Relaciones de Yucatán, had been answered by the same person. As a matter of fact, the answers were often identical, word for word. He had this to say about it: ". . . wherever this was the case, the Spaniard supposed to give the report had sought aid from one Gaspar Antonio Chi . . . Many of the Conquerors who had settled in Yucatan after the founding of Merida, in 1542, were now old, and never were writers, so they went to Gaspar Antonio . . . to ask his aid in answering the Kings irritating questions regarding the ancient history and heathen religion of that country. Gaspar Antonio gladly helped them . . ."

The following is some information regarding the above referenced, Gaspar Antonio Chi, taken from the Wikipedia article entitled "Gaspar Antonio Chi":

"Gaspar Antonio Chi (c. 1531–1610; also known as Gaspar Antonio de Herrera) was a Maya noble of Mani. Gaspar Antonio was of the Chi chibal (lineage) through his father Napuc Chi, and the Xiu chibal through his mother, Ix Kukil Xiu. He worked primarily as a translator between Spanish and Maya, and is thought to have been an important source of information for Diego de Landa in writing his Relación de las cosas de Yucatán."

The above mentioned Bishop Diego de Landa and his book Relación de las cosas de Yucatán, was another major source I relied upon heavily while doing research for this book.

The following information about Bishop Diego de Landa was taken from the wikipedia article "Diego de Landa":

"Diego de Landa Calderón, (12 November, 1524 – 29 April, 1579) was a Spanish bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatan...He is the author of the Relación de las cosas de Yucatán in which he catalogues the Maya religion, Maya Language, culture and writing system...When Landa first came to the Yucatán, he made it his mission to walk the breadth of the peninsula and preach to the most remote villages. While passing through Cupules, he came upon a group of 300 about to sacrifice a young boy. Enraged, Landa stormed through the crowd, released the boy, smashed the idols and began preaching with such zeal and sincerity that they begged him to remain in the land and teach them more. Landa was remarkable in that he was willing to go where no others would. He entered lands that had been only recently conquered, where native resentment of Spaniards was still very intense. Armed with nothing but the conviction to learn as much of native culture as he could..., Landa formulated an intimate contact with natives. Natives placed him in such an esteemed position they were willing to show him some of their sacred writings that had been transcribed on deerskin books...Landa's Relación De Las Cosas De Yucatán is about as complete a treatment of Mayan religion as is ever likely. While controversy surrounds his use of force in the conversion process, few scholars would debate the general accuracy of his recordings. Allen Wells calls his work an " ethnographic masterpiece," and William J. Folan, Laraine A. Fletcher and Ellen R. Kintz have written that the account of Maya social organization and towns before conquest is a "gem." The writings are the main contemporary source for Mayan history, without which the knowledge of Mayan ethnology would be devastatingly small. While Landa might have exaggerated some claims to justify his actions to his accusers, his intimate contact with natives and all around accuracy in other fields heavily implies his version of events to have at least some truth in it...Landa's also created a valuable record of the Mayan , which, despite its inaccuracies, was later to prove instrumental in the of the writing system. Landa asked his informants (his primary sources were two Maya individuals descended from a ruling Maya dynasty who were literate in the script) to write down the symbols corresponding to each of the letters of the (Spanish) alphabet, in the belief that there ought to be a one-to-one correspondence between them. The results were faithfully reproduced by Landa..."

And here is a little bit more information about Bishop Diego de Landa's book Relación de las cosas de Yucatán, taken from the Wikipedia article "Relación De Las Cosas De Yucatán":

"Relación de las cosas de Yucatán was written by around 1566, shortly after his return from to . In it, de Landa catalogues as well as a small number of . The hieroglyphs, sometimes referred to as the , proved vital to modern attempts to decipher the script. The book also includes documentation of and the ' culture in general. It was written with the help of local princes. It contains, at the end of a long list of words with Maya translations, a Maya phrase, famously found to mean "I do not want to." The original manuscript has been lost, but many copies still survive. The first published edition was produced by Charles Etienne Brasseur de Boubourg in 1864 under the title Relation des choses de Yucatan de Diego de Landa...Colonialist scholar John Woodruff has suggested that one passage in particular stands out as the principal basis for the belief that late post-classic Maya had numerous written books: 'These people also used special characters or letters with which they recorded in their books their histories and knowledge, as well as figures, and particular signs in those figures explained it all, and lent it meaning and understanding. We found a great number of books containing such letters, and as they did not contain an iota in which there was not superstition and falsehoods of the devil, we burned them all, which dismayed and distressed them greatly.' Currently-available English translations include 's 1937 translation, has been published by multiple publishing houses, under the title Yucatan Before and After the Conquest: The Maya. of has also published a translation of the work from the in 1941."

Itzamna vs. Kukulcan The Imposter

Now that I have given some information regarding the primary sources for my research, I will get the the heart of what I have discovered during my studies.

First I would like to clear-up some common misconceptions – one being that the Mayan gods Itzamna and Kukulcan were one in the same, when in fact, they were two different people. I will also show that the personage, whom the Itza-Maya Indians considered to be their feathered serpent god, Kukulkan, was not a god at all, but an imposter. In order to do so, I will present the following evidence.

It is first necessary to begin with the Aztec legend of Quetzalcoatl, as related by Chris Reeves, in the article "The Legend of Quetzalcoatl: A Myth of Mexico":

"The legend of Quetzalcoatl is well known to Mexican children. It is the origin of how the plumed serpent god, originally from the Toltec region of central Mexico, came to be known to the Maya. It tells of a man who was revered as a great mystical leader much in the same ilk as Britain's King Arthur. Though there is some evidence to suggest that Quetzalcoatl was actually a living man that ruled the Toltecs. He first appeared to the people of Teotehuican near current day Mexico City, and taught the Toltecs all of their arts and science and became their ruler and led their city to great prosperity and importance. He eventually fell in disgrace for violating his own laws and set himself on fire. He rose in flames to become the planet Venus and vowed to return one day to his people. After this event, all priests in the Toltec cult were given the title of Quetzalcoatl. One such priest by the name of Ce Acatl Topiltzin rose to power and proclaimed himself as the second coming of Quetzalcoatl returning as promised, and in 968 AD became king of the Toltec people once again. He reigned for decades and built the Toltec capital of Tula. Eventually he was disposed of by his enemies and this time sailed east on a raft of snakes, vowing, like the first Quetzalcoatl, to return one day to rule his people. It is this snake reference that has caused the artwork depicting Quetzalcoatl as emerging, or being "reborn" as he emerges from the mouth of a serpent. This raft of snakes carried Quetzalcoatl east and south across the gulf of Mexico to a Yucatan beach. By coincidence, the Mayan people were, at this time, expecting the return of their plumed serpent god Kukulkan. Kukulkan, in the same fashion as Quetzalcoatl, promised to return to rule his people after being forced to leave, and he was greeted as the returning Kukulkan by those that discovered him. Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl-Kukulkan became the king of the Itza Maya and rebuilt the ancient capital of Chichen Itza. Massive stone sculptures reflecting his image as the plumed serpent god were built in his honor and can be seen in a large portion of their artwork. His enemies eventually caught up with him again and he fled to Uxmal where he committed suicide and, according to legend, was buried under the Temple of the Dwarf where he remains to this day, though no burial plot has yet been discovered."

Then there is this quote, written by the aforementioned Juan de la Cueva Santillan in Documentos Ineditados – Relaciones de Yucatán:

"Itzamna was considered the Son and disciple of the one and only God, Hunab-Ku, upon whose alters were placed only fruits and flowers. Human sacrifice and other pagan practices were unknown to these people. When the Mexican capitan, Kukulcan, or Topiltzin as the old writers called him, entered the country, he supplanted this Christ-like religion with an idolatrous one, and introuduced human sacrifices and other abominations."

Itzamna – Son of the Most High God

At this point, I would also like to discuss what I have learned about the Mayan god, Itzamna, and some of the extraordinary things the Spanish missionaries uncovered during their time among the Maya.

According to A NAGAS (Niger Association of Global African Studies) article entitled "Evidence of Pre-Columbian Contact Between the Maya and Igbo Cultures":

"When the first Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived to the Yucatán Peninsula in the early 16th century, they were astounded to find wooden crosses exactly proportionate to the Catholic cross scattered throughout the Mayan countryside. Mayans would plant their sacred crosses, usually painted blue or green along roadsides, in the yards, courtyards, and on their monuments. They were constructed of the sacred Ceiba tree that the Mayans associated with the Tree of Life. According to Mayan cosmology, it was the tree that grew at the center of the universe."

Researcher Ernest Moyer, in his article, "Maya Revelations", also has this to add:

"When the Spanish arrived in the early 16th century, they found the Maya worshipping a diving Son named Itzamna-Kauil. This Itzamna-Kauil had all the attributes we Christians assign to Jesus. He was the human incarnation of the Maya Creator, Itzamna."

This passage comes from the book Mysteries of Native American Myth and Religion by Gary R. Varner:

"...and say that he came from the east by boat...The symbol of Itzamna as carved on many architectural features is that of a 'T'. This symbol was often carved on an open hand feature on statuary. Itzamna also brought writing and technology to the people who were called "Itzas."1Itzamna was the chief god of the Maya and was referred to as the inventor of sacred writing and the 'Lord of Heaven.' In one Yucatan province, Itzamna was worshipped as Kabul, or the 'skillful hand'. He was said to be able to cure the sick, and to raise the dead by 'laying on of hands'. Father Bernardo de Lizana wrote in 1633 that Itzamna was 'a king, a priest, a legislator, a ruler of benevolent character, like Christ.' Willard wrote 'that they established altars and erected temples to their one true and living god, and did not worship any image or painting of him.' The Itzas had a developed concept of the creation of the universe and of the creator who they believed to be omnipotent and invisible. The only offerings given to this god were fruit and flowers, human sacrifice had been forbidden by Itzamna ...In the sacred book of Chilam-Balam, Itzamna was represented over 200 times. The 'T' symbol representing him is also the Mayan symbol for light and life and, according to legend, it was seen on Itzamna's hands. Itzamna was certainly a Christ-like figure, healing the sick and raising the dead throughout Yucatan. Itzamna told his people that he was 'the dew of the sky and clouds'. 'Itzamna' means 'he who received and possesses the grace or dew or substance from the sky.' However, because Itzamna was regarded as the 'Kind and great lord' and the Son of God, there was no personal or proper name that was given him. Itzamna himself, it was reported, would accept no other name or title. The Mayan codices spoke of Itzamna as the universal deity, the first rule of the Itzas after the flood. This hand symbol is regarded by some as the origin of the American Indiad's hand symbolism. Morley believed that Mesoamericans worshipped Itzamna as far back as the beginning of Mayan religion, approximately 300 CE...Itzamna was never associated with destruction, vengeance or death in any manner as so many Mesoamerican gods were. Whether Itzamna was worshipped at the beginning of Mayan culture or not, he was acknowledged as the inventor of the Mayan script and their calendar."

The next piece I want to share comes from the article "White and Bearded God", which can be found at http://www.docbible.net/book-of-mormon/39-white-and-bearded-god :

"Itzamna God of the Itzas. The Catholic priests discovered in Yucatan that these people worshipped a "Fair God" very close to Quetzalcoatl. T.A. Willard informs us that Itzamna was regarded as the light and the life of the world: "Father Bernardo de Lizana, one of the most devout priests of his time, stated in his history of Yucatan, written in 1633, that Itzamna was called Kabul, the Skillful Hand, with which he performed miracles, curing the sick by placing his hands on them. "He was a king, a priest, a legislator, a ruler of benevolent character, like Christ," wrote the historian. "He came from the east and founded the Itza civilization." It was said Itzamna could revive the dead... Through many writings we are shown that Itzamna was one vital influence in implanting the ancient civilization of Yucatan so firmly that it spread out for hundreds of miles. Herrera, the celebrated Mexican historian, states in his work that "The one who first discovered the letters of the Maya language and who made the computations of the years, months and katuns...was Kinich Ahau who was also called Zamna or Itzamna... In Documentos Ineditod Relaciones de Yucatan, the reader will find many confirmations of the similarity between this (Itza- Mayas) religion and that of the Christian doctrine. Itzamna was considered the Son and disciple of the one and only God, Hunab-Ku, upon whose altars were place only fruits and flowers. Human sacrifice and other pagan practices were unknown to these people. When the Mexican captain, Kukulcan (or topiltzin) as the old writers called him, entered the country, he supplanted this Christ-like religion with an idolatrous one, and introduced human sacrifices and other abominations." Bernardo de Lizana in his book History of Yucatan and spiritual conquest, published in 1633 A.D. gives us much information that he received from the Itza Indians of Yucatan regarding their god. "In the city of Itzamal (now called Izamal) there are five very high pyramids, all ruined, on dry stone with their forces and supports which serve to raise the stones high. Today no complete edifices are seen, but the signs and vestiges are apparent. On one of them in the southern part, the ancients had a most celebrated idol which they called Itzamatul (Itzamna), which means he who receives and possesses the grace or dew or substance from the sky. And this idol had no other name because they say that he was a King and great Lord of this land, who was obeyed as the Son of God, and when they asked him what he was called or who he was, he would say nothing but these words, "I am the dew or substance of the sky and clouds." This great kings died and they raised altars to him and he was an oracle and afterwards it will be seen that they built another temple and for what. When this king, who was afterwards deified, lived, the people consulted him about the things that happened in some remote parts and he told them of present and future things. At the same time they carried their dead to him and he brought them back to life, and the sick got well, and for this he was greatly venerated and with reason, for if it were true that he was a Son of God, who only can give life to dead and health to the sick, since it is impossible for an ordinary man, nor the demons, but only the same God, who is the Lord of life and death. The people believed this, and did not know another god, and for this they said he resurrected and cured them."

This last bit was taken from Elder Milton R. Hunter's article "The Greatest Event in Ancient America":

"All of the principal events of Christ's life—namely, his virgin birth, the marvelous missionary work that he did, the numerous miracles that he performed, his death, his internment for three days, his resurrection, his ascension into heaven, his final promise that he would come again—were found among the American Indians by the Catholic Fathers when they first visited various parts of the New World. Father Bernardo de Lizana, "one of the most devout Catholic priests of his time," did missionary work among the Itza-Maya Indians of Yucatan during the first century of the Spanish Conquest. In his History of Yucatan and Spiritual Conquest, written in 1633, Lizana maintained that "Chief of the beneficent gods [of the Itza-Mayas] was Itzamna" (Bernardo de Lizana, cited in T. A. Willard, Kukulcan the Bearded Conqueror, p. 127). Itzamna was a God, according to the Maya sacred books, who was held in the highest veneration, being regarded as a universal deity. Father Lizana informs us that the Indians claimed that this person was the Son of the Most High God. Itzamna had come to earth and had lived among the ancestors of the Itza-Mayas. He, according to Lizana, had taught the ancient inhabitants of Yucatan to read and write. He had given them their government and was the founder of their religion. To quote the words of the Catholic Padre Lizana: "Itzamna was called Kabul, the Skillful Hand, with which he performed miracles, curing the sick by placing his hands on them. He was a king, a priest, a legislator, a ruler of benevolent character, like Christ . . ."The people consulted him [Itzamna] about things that happened in some remote parts and he told them of present and future things. "At the same time they carried their dead to him and he brought them back to life, and the sick got well, and for this he was greatly venerated and with reason, for if it were true that he was a Son of God, who only can give life to the dead, and health to the sick, since it is impossible for an ordinary man, nor the demons, but only the same God [whom the Christians worship], who is the Lord of life and death. "The people . . . said he resurrected and cured them" (Ibid., pp. 151-152). In speaking of the death of Itzamna, Father Lizana wrote: "Thus passed Itzamna, this reputed Son of God—perhaps our Christian God under another name, and the Itzas believed that his soul went to dwell with his Heavenly Father" (Ibid., pp. 148-149)."

Chilam B'alam – The Last and Greatest Mayan Prophet

Now, I would like to share some facts about Chilam B'alam, whom my readers might recognize as being portrayed in my story as B'alam Agab's brother, B'ak B'alam, the prophet.

Chilam B'alam lived in the city of Mani in Yucatan, during the reign of Mochan Xiu, in the last decades of the Fifteenth Century and probably the first of the Sixteenth century. Chilam, or chilan, was his title which means that he was the mouth-piece or interpreter of the gods. Balam means jaguar, but it is also a common family name in Yucatan. In Katun2 2 Ahua he predicted that in Katun 13 Ahua following, bearded men would come from the east and introuduce a new religion. The prompt fulfilment of this prediction so enhanced his reputation as a seer that in later times he was considered the authority for many other prophecies which had been uttered long before his time.

Ralph L. Roys, who translated The Book of Chilam B'alam of Chumayel from Mayan to English, had this to say about the fame Chilam B'alam might have enjoyed, and insight into the manner in which he received his prophecies:

"Prophecy played an important part in the lives of the Maya and occupied a prominent position in their literature. Nor was the Maya prophet without honor in his own country. Foretelling the future was the profession of a special branch of the priesthood, the members of which were called chilans. The word means mouthpiece, spokesman or interpreter, and it was the chilans who delivered to the people the responses of the gods. They were held in such high esteem that they were carried on men's shoulders when they went abroad. In the Tizimin manuscript we find an account of the manner in which Chilam Balam. gave his prophecy, and it is likely that it was the customary method with this class of priests. He retired to a room in his home where he lay prostrate in a trance while the god or spirit, perched on the ridgepole of the house, spoke to the unconscious chilan below. Then the other priests assembled, probably in the reception hall of the house, and listened to the revelation with their faces bowed down to the floor."

Chilam B'alam Commands The Making of Crosses

This anecdote from the life of Chilam B'alam comes from Allen J. Christenson's book The Burden of the Ancients: Maya Ceremonies of World Renewal from the Pre-columbian Period to the Present:

"Gaspar Antonio Chi, a Maya nobleman and one of Landa's principal sources of information, wrote that a few years before the arrival of the Spaniards a Maya prophet named Chilam B'alam (reputed to have authored the original Book of Chilam B'alam) came to the community of Mani. He directed the lord of that town, Mochan Xiu, to erect a stone image of the yax che'el kab in the central plaza as a focus of worship and pilgrimage. Although this was done before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Maya later found the Christian cross so similar to this stone image of the World Tree that the rulers of Mani reportedly adopted Christianity when it was taught to them by the first Spanish missionaries: And he [Chilam B'alam] commanded that [Mochan Xiu] make this cross symbol of worked stones along with others, and place them in the patios of the temples where they would be seen by all; and he said that this was the green tree of the world, and that many would go to see it as a new thing; and it appears that they worshipped it from then on. Later, when the Spaniards came, they realized that they carried the sign of the Holy Cross that was like the one that the prophet Chilam B'alam had depicted. And so they took it as certain what he had told them and they decided to receive the Spaniards in peace and did not war against them, but instead were their friends. (Garza 1983, 69, translation by author)...The erection of a monument in token of the sacred World Tree is prominent in the various versions of the Chilam B'alam texts. The following is the prophecy of Chilam B'alam in the Chilam B'alam in the Chilam B'alam of Chumayel as translated by Munro Edmondson: Yum e U chichul hunab ku canal Hulom uamo che Etcahan ti bal cah e Uchebal u sas-hal y okol cab e Yum e O my fathers, It was a sign of the sole god on high, Come is the standing tree. It is manifested in the world, It is to be his radiance over the world, O my fathers."

The Prophecies

Lastly, I think it is important to take a look at some of the actual prophecies themselves.

This prophecy, while not a direct prophecy of Chilam B'alam, is certainly intriguing and was included in The Book of Chilam B'alam of Chumayel, written alongside those of the great prophet:

"The prophecy of Natzin Yabun Chan: There was the word of the true God in the land. You shall await the coming forth, lord, of his priests who will bring it in time to come. Give your understanding to his word, to his admonition. Fortunate are you who truly receive it. Forsake those things which you have held sacred, oh Itzá; forget your perishable gods, your transitory gods. Of all things he is the ruler, lord, the creator of all heaven and earth. It is to your hearts that I speak, oh Maya Itzá. You shall not desire another God than the true God according to your own words. You shall take to heart the word of my admonition."

And now in closing, I would like to leave you with the words of Chilam B'alam's most famous prophecy, which I think speaks for itself:

"The prophecy of Chilam Balam, the singer, of Cabal-chen, Mani: On the day 13 Ahau the katun will end in the time of the Itzá, in the time of Tancah Mayapan, lord. There is the sign of Hunab-ku on high. The raised wooden standard shall come. It shall be displayed to the world, that the world may be enlightened, lord. There has been a beginning of strife, there has been a beginning of rivalry, when the priestly man shall come to bring the sign of God in time to come, lord. A quarter of a league, a league away he comes. You see the mut-bird surmounting the raised wooden standard. A new day shall dawn in the north, in the west. Itzamná Kauil shall rise. Our lord comes, Itzá. Our elder brother comes, oh men of Tantun. Receive your guests, the bearded men, the men of the east, the bearers of the sign of God, lord. Good indeed is the word of God that comes to us. The day of our regeneration comes. You do not fear the world, Lord, you are the only God who created us. It is sufficient, then, that the word of God is good, lord. He is the guardian of our souls. He who receives him, who has truly believed, he will go to heaven with him. Nevertheless at the beginning were the two-day men. Let us exalt his sign on high, let us exalt it that we may gaze upon it today with the raised standard. Great is the discord that arises today. The First Tree of the World is restored; it is displayed to the world. This is the sign of Hunab-ku on high. Worship it, Itzá. You shall worship today his sign on high. You shall worship it furthermore with true good will, and you shall worship the true God today, lord. You shall be converted to the word of Hunab-ku, lord; it came from heaven. Oh it is he who speaks to you! Be admonished indeed, Itzá. They will correct their ways who receive him in their hearts in another katun, lord. Believe in my word itself, I am Chilam Balam, and I have interpreted the entire message of the true God of the world; it is heard in every part of the world, lord, the word of God, the Lord of heaven and earth. Very good indeed is his word in heaven, lord. He is ruler over us; he is the true God over our souls. But those to whom the word is brought, lord: thrice weighed down is their strength, the younger brothers native to the land. Their hearts are submerged in sin. Their hearts are dead in their carnal sins. They are frequent backsliders, the principal ones who spread sin, Nacxit Xuchit in the carnal sin of his companions, the two-day rulers. They sit crookedly on their thrones; crookedly in carnal sin. Two-day men they call them. For two days endure their seats, their cups, their hats. They are the unrestrained lewd ones of the day, the unrestrained lewd ones of the night, the rogues of the world. They twist their necks, they wink their eyes, they slaver at the mouth, at the rulers of the land, lord. Behold, when they come, there is no truth in the words of the foreigners to the land. They tell very solemn and mysterious things, the sons of the men of Seven-deserted-buildings, the offspring of the women of Seven-deserted-buildings, lord. Who will be the prophet, who will be the priest who shall interpret truly the word of the book?"

END

1 The "Itza" are a Guatemalan people of Maya affiliation speaking the Itza' language. They inhabit the Petén department of Guatemala in and around the city of Flores on the Lake Petén Itzá.

2 A k'atun (Mayan pronunciation: [kʼaˈtun]) is a unit of time in the Maya calendar equal to 20 tuns or 7,200 days, equivalent to 19.713 tropical years. The end of the k'atun was marked by numerous ceremonies and at Tikal the construction of large twin pyramid complexes to host them. The k'atun was also used to reckon the age of rulers. Those who lived to see four (or five) k'atuns would take the title 4-(or 5-) k'atun lord. Each k'atun had its own set of prophecies and associations.

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